The city of traditional culture, Jeonju 세계를 비비는 도시, 전주

Photos by Aoife Casey

Jeonju City is located in the central province of South Korea and I was visiting due to having work exhibited as part of The Jeonju Biennale, part curated by artist Martyn Thompson of PANK. Some of the artists were lucky enough to be put up in the Jeonju Hanok(Korean traditional houses) Village Located in KyoDong. The village comprises dozens of Hanok constructed in the Joseon period(1392-1910).

Here you can experience a variety of traditional Korean culture such as making traditional Korean paper(Hanji) or trying Korean liquor. Of course, Jeonju is also famous for bibimbap Bibim means mixing and bap means rice. Served in the traditional brassware,it consists of rice with seasonal stir fried vegetables(carrot, bean sprout, radish, spinach, zucchini.bracken), seaweed(gim), and hot pepper paste(gochujang). It is also available in a hot stone bowl, perfect for colder weather.

There are many spots in Jeonju to explore from the Crafts Exhibition Hall village and Traditional Wine Museum to DeokJin Park and Hansol Paper Museum. I decided to wander around the Nambu Markets on the Saturday, a busy place of buisiness to the locals, gathering the weeks fresh produce.

I then stumbled upon a very unique and eclectic coffee shop run by a Korean novelist which was a homage to writer Kafka. Hidden in a backstreet near the markets, it is a wonderful carefully designed space of wooden floors, with various sections of loaded bookshelves, paintings,installations and floor and bar seating. A great place to pass a couple of hours.

Hanokstay information: www.hanokstay.or.kr or
Kafka coffee shop: https://www.facebook.com/kafka471
PANK(Professional Artists Network Korea): www.pank.kr

 

 

 

Contributoir, Aoife Casey

She is an Irish artist living and working in Seoul, Korea. She expresses problems of existence with performance, photo, sculpture, installation more than 10 years. She is in full activity with her own view as an artist in recent.

아일랜드 출신의 작가 이퍼 케이시는 10년 이상을 퍼포먼스, 조각, 설치, 사진 등의 작업을 통해 인간의 신체적 혹은 존재의 문제를 다루어 왔다. 2013년 부터 서울에 거주하며 활발한 활동을 하고 있다.